GRADUATE ASSISTANCE

To the Editors of The Crimson:

Isn't it time that the departments of this gargantuan elite University (all of some 10,000 students) at least got coordinated about the date when financial aid applicants must apply and when departmental teaching job offers are offered? (One can well imagine the callous, un-sportsmanlike efficiency with which the large "state universities" of 50,000 strong might handle these problems!)

Applications for aid must be submitted, says the salmon-colored form, "on or before Feb. 6." But offers of teaching appointments straggle out from the various departments at irregular intervals all Spring term.

And how, then, is a teaching fellow meant to apply honestly and precisely for aid--and do so on time? When Harvard finances are tight, it's unlikely that any financial aid office is going to give out vaguely estimated sums. Until one's application is precisely filled out (which sometimes is possible only as late as June), it's doubtful that any action will be taken on it.

Meanwhile, such money as there is gets doled out, first come, first served. And those fellows who wait upon the whimsy or confusion of the department they've decided to teach for are forced to be satisfied with what money's left. What's more, they probably wait as late as October of the following school year to hear if they'll get any assistance after all.

Is this fair, necessary, or even inevitable?

"Bring out number, weight and measure [and coordinated financial aid timetables] in a year of dearth." Jerald Reneau' 4G